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Definitions

 

Coercion

Conduct or behavior that compels an action by intimidation, domination or an expressed or implied threat of physical or emotional harm that would reasonably place an individual in fear of harm and that is used to persuade a person to act.

Complainant

Any individual who is alleged to be the victim of sexual harassment.

Consent

Consent means intelligent, knowing and voluntary consent and does not include coerced submission. Consent shall not be deemed or construed to mean the failure by the alleged victim to offer physical resistance to the offender.” (F.S.794.011)

Cyberstalking

Engaging in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at a specific person, causing substantial emotional distress to that person and serving no legitimate purpose.

Dating Violence

Dating Violence is defined as violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the reporting party’s statement and with consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

Discrimination

Prejudicial treatment based on an individual's membership in a particular category. Types of discrimination include disparate treatment, disparate impact and retaliation.

Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence is defined as a felony or misdemeanor crime of violence committed:

  • By a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim
  • By a person with whom the victim shares a child in common
  • By a person who is cohabitating with, or has cohabitated with, the victim as a spouse or intimate partner
  • By a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred
  • By any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person’s acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction in which the crime of violence occurred.

Respondent

Any individual who is reported to be the perpetrator of sexual harassment.

Retaliation

Intimidating, threatening, coercing or discriminating against an individual for making a complaint, testifying, assisting or participating in an investigation, proceeding or hearing.

Sexual Harassment

Conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following:
(1) An employee of the recipient conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the recipient on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct;
 
(2) Unwelcome conduct determined
by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the recipient’s education program or activity; or

(3) ‘‘Sexual assault’’ as defined in 20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(6)(A)(v), ‘‘dating violence’’ as defined in 34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(10), ‘‘domestic violence’’ as defined in 34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(8), or ‘‘stalking’’ as defined in 34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(30).

Stalking

Stalking is defined as engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

  • Fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or
  • Suffer substantial emotional distress. For the purposes of this definition.
  • Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or Chapter 3. Crime Statistics: Classifying and Counting Clery Act Crimes The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting 3-39 about a person, or interferes with a person’s property.
  • Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.
  • Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.
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